Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Would you buy a high-end CDP now?

Thanks Gary.


maz

I have both and I can confidently say there is NO comparison. 808 (or G08) is just in a different league when it comes to communicating the music. I expect that computer networks and the squeeze box just suffer too much from jitter and other ills.

Hi Ron

Yes, the Big Ben has a narrow window in which it will lock onto the incoming signal which limits its usefulness. I notice that AT-Tunes are now agents for the ALWSR super regulator so when I get chance I'll have a chat with you about what can be done to the power supply in the 568.2 as that's one component I haven't really spent any time looking at.

Listener

You're right, a standard SB isn't particulary fabulous, however, with modification, such as the SB+, which uses a much lower jitter clock than standard, along with modified Jung regulators and an extremely good seperate linear PSU it's a whole different ball game.

Regards
Gary

Gary,

Are you going for mods directly to a Transporter before getting a feel for it's baseline performance? Or have you already done some time with it ?

Am curious, despite all the Logitech noise, as I might have a look at one in the Spring.

Cheers

Before M, I come from a two channel system, very high-end essoteric stuff. I decided I wanted to simplify and M was the way to go. Now the whole family can enjoy the investment (read: movies), before it was just me listening to some serious kit. With M the possibilities opened up, the SB3 is a great example. My question is basically, how good is the SB3 or Transporter when compared to a carefully (expensive) set two channel system? I am willing to compromise, for one, I never bought into an all analogue system - though I reconize (to me) a t/t sounds better than the best CDP I've listened - with an extra ounce of warmth no CDP can reproduce.

So, will a SB3 or Transporter sound better (or just about the same) in an all M kit, than an 808 or 800? I guess the consesus is very close, but not quite. Now, is that extra X% worth the price of an 808/800? Probably no.

Some members here have two or more kits, if I could avoid that and have everything in one place - the best audio and video one kit, than, it would a bargain. To achieve that level of audio that I am looking for mean I have to buy an 808? I think the answer is probably, until M comes out with a (SB3) similar solution.

For movies I am considering the new "basic" system that Kaleidescape came out (I understand it's about $10K). I do not need the big system because we mostly watch movies in one place - if it was up to me we'd only have one TV in the house. Now music on the other hand, I could have all thruought the house; and that's where I think the SB3 could be a good alternative to me.

Anyway, that's where I think I am heading, K for movies, M for audio, SB3 for "zone" music.

Nick

I ordered my Transporter directly from Slim Devices and had them ship it to Bolder for modification without listening to it. In light of my experience so far in trying to get a computer based solution to match the best CD transport/player I didn't want to mess about. My current reference point is the Coherent Systems Esoteric X-01 used with Coherent's master clock (which, by the way, completely annihilated the Big Ben in an A/B comparison). Coherent's X-01 is still head and shoulders above any computer based solution I've heard to date, and for that matter any other CD/DVD player I've heard.

Regards
Gary

Concerning Maestro's post there is a difference between esoteric theory and practical reality- there have been many users (myself included) who found Squeezebox led source to perform or rather outperform transports/CDPs of much higher value. (Remember this is for CDs not DVDs).

Also if any of you have G series, get the Power Supply modded or replaced - you will hear better

Cheers,
Kishore

[controversial mode on]

Can I really be bothered to copy all my CDs etc to a PC when I can just put one in the player as required? I've probably got better things to do.

[controversial mode off]

If someone with the proper equipment and willingness to spend some time on the matter would connect some T&M acq/rec equipment to the SP-DIF output of a SB and a said High-End CDP, playing the same material (perfectly ripped for the SB) and then post somewhere (or better here) the synchronized traces for all those interested to be able to see what the differences eventually look like, then maybe some ink would be spared.

Hi Malcolm,

[tutt tutt mode on]

You see....that's the type of non-value add response that we did to death in the previous threads on this subject.....that I suggested at the start of this one we should try and avoid.

[tutt tutt mode off]

The pursuit of audio performance is absolutely about giving up time and resources that you might have otherwise spent on something else more 'worthwhile'.

I ask you: what would you do if the use of device X via a hard drive was demonstrably and measurably outperforming your current CDP at a tenth of the cost? A night and day improvement in performance ? Would you still maintain that spending the time to make it available in such a way was not worth it ?

I'm with Goodolddog on his view that a like for like measurement would be a very good thing to have at this point. Let's say a G08/G98 or similar playing a test sample compared to a standard SB3 playing the same material.

I'm not sure that we can just base views on theoretical expectations of network jitter and 'other ills' when the empirical findings are far better than would be 'expected' by really quite a few folks here.

Malcolm,
This is a valid point of view. I'll give you mine. Given the busy nature of my life and the large CD collection I have, the annoyance factor of copying the CDs to servers (twice in my case!) was well worth it. I can make bit accurate CDs for automobile mixes if I so choose and I can easily transfer the music to my iPod in MP3 format so its portable. Whats more, having my G5 Mac hooked right into a 518 and then the 861 gives me playback of those CDs in bit accurate format (proof is ripping and playing a DTS CD). Now, I cannot say I am an expert on some of the technical things mentioned above like jitter, but I can tell you that for my preference in music, which you could call classic/progressive rock/ I hear no difference between the 800 and the Mac with its optical digital output. I even tried taking the 518 out of the chain and I heard no difference. As I've mentioned earlier, I do think there is a subtle difference with more demanding playback like orchestrial or jazz- but thats not what I usually listen to. So for my purposes I am very happy.

So is the convenience of having all my music at my finger tips worth the hassle factor of ripping CDs while I watch ball games while the kids sleep- yes it was worth it. For me. I rip the music twice as I said- once in AIFF to one server and the other to my local computer as 192kps MP3 for iPod use. I back up both collections to an old computer with a lot of hd capacity and also an external fire wire HD. The beauty here is the investment in my collection is relatively safe. And I don't have to worry about the physical discs anymore- they are in boxes in my basement.

If ripping a large collection is too tedious but you want the benefits, there are services which will perform this task for a fee.

MJC,
I have thought hard on the Kscape myself. My biggest issue is that my favorite thing about the 800 is its decoding of the DD soundtrack on DVDs and thus the 861s upsampling of the track. There is a noticeable difference in that using the 800 for movie playback gives soundtracks more of a "cinematic" sense to them.

Yet the convenience the Kscape provides is really tremendous. My worry is what if we get a HD format that takes off- thats a lot of investment to put into a proprietary system. The pricing I am seeing on the Kscape is like 15k for a basic system with like 2 zones. I grant you that you don't want that many zones, but in my case, with little kiddies, I would want more zones because what happens is the kids want to see and touch the DVD cases and that leads to them putting their paws on the DVDs themselves. Now when you want to know where the "Day with the animals" DVD is- well, its in Cinderella's box... Id want at least 5 zones and that is like 10k in players... So I have resigned myself to wait and see on the Kscape- but I do love it and I am open to any thoughts/ arguments in favor or not you and the rest of the board have.

best regards,
Jerry

Jerry - We are definitely on the same camp, I have two young daughters, and I don't remember (don't want to) how many times I've bought the bloddy Nemo, Cinderella... I will probably stay with one zone though.

The K is definitley my number one choice, unless M is working on a similar solution, in which case I would prefer it based on we've already put in a lot of money into an all digital system and would like to keep it that way. Your HD point is exactly why I haven't made the jump yet, though all my DVDs are std at the moment, I am sure as the catalog expands I will find a compeling reason to upgrade.

For the moment I just finished putting in all my music (except classical/jazz) into a 500GB HD I bought at Costco for little more than $200 and will either buy a MacMini or a SB3/Transporter for music. I understand the Transport comes with 2 SB3s (not sure if it was an offer when the T first came out) that would work great for music on 2 additional zones. I will talk to my local K dealer to learn more about the HD issue.